We are now in the middle of the academic year, and I am reminded that each generation of Aztecs is also, metaphorically, in the middle. We inherit the university from our predecessors, and we hold it in trust to give to our successors.

For 117 years, our community has been blessed with an aspirational spirit that strives to advance our university and build its legacy. As SDSU president, I am grateful for the leadership shown by my predecessors Brage Golding, Tom Day and Stephen Weber and by all of their faculty, staff and administrative colleagues over the last four decades.

In this edition of 360 Magazine, we celebrate reaching the $500-million milestone in The Campaign for SDSU and look at the many ways we can leave a legacy.

Buoyed by the generosity of our alumni and friends, our Campanile Foundation board voted unanimously to extend the campaign to a goal of $750 million.

In this phase of the campaign, we have an extraordinary opportunity to build a legacy that will affect thousands of lives. We can do this by endowing scholarships and professorships, building our research endowment, endowing our Honors College and constructing a new Engineering and Interdisciplinary Sciences Complex.

These are ambitious goals, and our bold desire to leave a legacy for others continues our aspirational tradition. You will read a number of stories in this edition that reflect this Aztec spirit: students and faculty improving urban sustainability, graduate student Eileen Natuzzi working to eradicate hepatitis in the Solomon Islands, biology professor Sanford Bernstein launching the careers of young scientists and donor Phillips Claud making lead gift to fund a new 50-inch telescope that literally sees into the heavens.

I hope you enjoy this edition of 360: The Magazine of San Diego State University and that it will inspire you to continue to build your Aztec legacy.